* Tanzania says all members must agree
* Says land ownership by foreigners not on table
By George Obulutsa
DAR ES SALAAM, April 15 (Reuters) - Tanzania remains opposed to proposals relating to land ownership in a common market protocol for the East African Community (EAC), a minister said on Wednesday, signalling an impasse likely to delay any deal.
The EAC which comprises Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi has set itself a Jan. 1, 2010 target to have an operational common market that would allow the free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the bloc.
Kenya says the EAC could sign the common markets deal, designed to boost trade within the bloc, by the end of April, but for Tanzania's reservations over issues concerning travel documents, land ownership and the right of permanent residence [ID:nLE411909].
Tanzania's EAC Affairs Minister Diodorus Kamala said his country still opposed proposals that citizens from other EAC states could own land in Tanzania through a proposed EAC land ownership law that would override the country's own legislation.
"What we don't want to have in the protocol is to have it saying 'All East Africans are guaranteed to access land in Tanzania.' Because it is not our obligation. So that is non-negotiable," Kamala told Reuters in an interview.
Under Tanzanian law, the government holds all land in trust.
Investors, including foreigners, can lease it for fixed periods. In rural areas, Tanzanians request land to settle on from village authorities.
The system is a relic of Tanzania's socialist past when the government took possession of all land and herded large numbers into villages and had them working on communal land.
RESIDENCY, TRAVEL DOCUMENTS
Tanzania wants clarity about who would qualify for permanent residency, but says anyone who has gainful employment would be granted residence during the duration of their employment.
"What we agreed is that if you go to Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda or Burundi then get a job, you should be allowed to stay there in order to do that job," Kamala said.
"But if you want to come to Tanzania with no job, no legitimate economic activity, it doesn't make sense."
Tanzania also wants national passports, the East African passport and temporary passes to be the only valid travel documents, not national ID cards, which it currently lacks.
Kamala rebuffed any suggestion Tanzania was holding back the protocol: "Every partner is a sovereign state. Saying that because Tanzania has a different view, so that is holding back, that is nonsense."
The EAC launched a customs union for three of its largest economies -- Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya -- in 2005. Rwanda and Burundi are expected to join it in July. The union sets common tariffs for goods entering the region.
After the common market, the bloc plans a monetary union by 2012 and eventually a political federation.
The EAC has a population of more than 121 million people and a combined gross domestic product of more than $57 billion. It covers 1.8 million square kms (695,000 square miles).
The original bloc collapsed in 1977 due to mistrust, differences in political and economic ideology and the dictatorship of the late Idi Amin in Uganda.
"We don't want one member of the EAC to be complaining because if that happens, then people will go to the streets, will boycott, they will say no to everything," Kamala said. (Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Katie Nguyen)